Ferdinand de Saussure: Place of Language in the Facts of Speech

"In order to separate from the whole of speech the part that belongs to language, we must examine the individual act from which the speaking-circuit can be reconstructed. The act requires the presence of at least two persons; that is the minimum number necessary to complete the circuit. Suppose that two people, A and B, are conversing with each other [see figure 1 below].

Suppose that the opening of the circuit is in A's brain, where mental facts (concepts) are associated with representations of the linguistic sounds (sound-images) that are used for their expression. A given concept unlocks a corresponding sound-image in the brain; this purely psychological phenomenon is followed in turn by a physiological process: the brain transmits an impulse corresponding to the image to the organs used in producing sounds. Then the sound waves travel from the mouth of A to the ear of B: a purely physical process. Next, the circuit continues in B, but the order is reversed: from the ear to the brain, the physiological transmission of the sound-image; in the brain, the psychological association of the image with the corresponding concept. If B then speaks, the new act will follow-from his brain to A's-exactly the same course as the first act and pass through the same successive phases, which I shall diagram as follows [see figure 2 below].

The preceding analysis does not purport to be complete. We might also single out the pure acoustical sensation, the identification of that sensation with the latent sound-image, the muscular image of phonation, etc. I have included only the elements thought to be essential, but the drawing brings out at a glance the distinction between the physical (sound waves), physiological (phonation and audition), and psychological parts (word-images and concepts). Indeed, we should not fail to note that the word-image stands apart from the sound itself and that it is just as psychological as the concept which is associated with it. "

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"Some pioneers of VR technology, including Brenda Laurel and Jaron Lanier, have been among its principal exponents, suggesting that the creation of virtual worlds and of shared cyberspaces will have revolutionary social consequences and allow hitherto unimagined forms of human expression. Such a view is echoed in the work of academic theorists like Donna Haraway and Alluquere Rosanne Stone, who believe that advanced information technologies may have radical political consequences, an idea which they pursue through the image of cyborgs which blur the distinction between humans and machines. These ideas can also be found in the use of VR as a theme in youth culture, for example the cyberpunk nightclubs and cafes in London and San Francisco. Here too, we find an agenda for cultural and political change, in this case, again, premised on innovations in human–machine interface technologies."

(Ralph Schroeder, 1994, pp.519–528)

2). Ralph Schroeder (1994). "Cyberculture, cyborg post–modernism and the sociology of virtual reality technologies: surfing the soul in the information age", Futures 1994 26(5) 519–528 (from a reading list created by Beau Sievers for the lecture series titled "Irony and Utopia: History of Computer Art" at the Bruce High Quality Foundation University).